From The Huntsville Item
By Cody Stark
HUNTSVILLE ? Bobby Verbick hit a grand slam home run in the ninth inning to power Sam Houston State past Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 13-2 in the second round of the Southland Conference post-season baseball tournament Thursday night.
Texas State-San Marcos and Southeastern Louisiana will meet at 9 a.m. in the first loser's bracket game Friday. The winner will meet Lamar at 4 p.m.
Texas-San Antonio and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will meet at 12 noon. Sam Houston State plays the winner at 7 p.m.
The winner of the Southland Conference post-season tournament earns the league's NCAA championship playoff berth. The Bearkats won the tournament last year.
The Bearkats pounded Anderson for seven runs off nine hits through the first three frames, then cruised to a 13-2 eight-inning victory in the second round of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament at Don Sanders Stadium.
Designated hitter Bobby Verbick went 2-for-5 with five RBIs, including a grand slam in the eighth that put the finishing touches on the rout. First baseman Nick Zaleski went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs, while pitcher Guillaume Duguay (4-2) tossed the second straight compete game for the Kats.
The battle between a pair of 1-0 teams quickly got out of hand. Now the Bearkats will face the winner of today's noon elimination game between Texas-San Antonio and A&M-Corpus Christi in the tournament semifinals tonight at 7.
“We said before the tournament that we needed to get some depth from our pitchers in the first two games because those are our most consistent starters,” Bearkats coach Mark Johnson said. “We didn't want to have to get into our bullpen much, but I never anticipated getting two complete games. And, it is easier for them to pitch when we get some runs for them, and we did that again.”
Thursday's game was well in hand before Verbick sent a 1-0 offering from reliever Jake Olier over the left-field wall just inside the foul pole to make it 13-2.
Like the night before, the Bearkats struck first with three runs in the top of the second inning. Third baseman Seth Hammock led off the frame with a sharply hit double down the left-field line and moved to third on a groundout to short by Ryan Trevino.
Zaleski put the first run on the board with a single up the middle and reached second on a hit by catcher Heath Pugh. Ryan Weber, SHSU's
No. 9 hitter, pushed the lead to 3-0 when he almost left the yard with a towering double that hit off the bottom of the left-field wall. Weber was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a triple.
Anderson came out to start the third, but he didn't make it through the inning. After Todd Sebek singled to begin the frame, Keith Stein ripped an RBI double on a hit and run to make it 4-0.
Verbick singled in Stein, Hammock ripped his second double of the game and Trevino drove in a run with a groundout to short. After Zaleski made it 7-0 with another double, Anderson's night was over.
“We made some good approaches in the box tonight and made sure we got our pitches to hit,” Verbick said about the Kats' 13-hit attack. “But even when we got up, we didn't relax. If you have been watching this tournament, you know that there haven't been a lot of leads held. We just got momentum early and kept it.”
The Kats tacked on two more runs in the seventh on a two-run double by Zaleski, which brought home Stein and Hammock.
That was more than enough support for Duguay.
The junior from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, had only one bad inning Thursday night when he gave up a solo home run to Islanders catcher Stephen Flora with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Bryan Gerondale, who went 4-for-4, followed with his third hit of the game, and Chase Wheaton threatened to bring in another run with a deep double to right.
But with Gerondale running on a bad knee, he had to hold up at third. Duguay pitched around Martin Parra to load the bases, and the Islanders cut the lead to 7-2 when Ernie Olivarez hit a nubber to third and Hammock couldn't make a play to bring in Gerondale.
Duguay shut down the Islanders after that, scattering 12 hits over eight innings to go along with six strikeouts to earn the victory.
“I threw a lot of pitches today and got behind a lot, but my defense really got behind me and picked me up,” Duguay said. “They made some big plays and I was just trying to save the arms for this weekend, which is going to be huge. We need that bullpen ready to go, so it feels good to do my part.”
